


Linked

by theauthor2010



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-12
Updated: 2011-03-11
Packaged: 2017-10-16 21:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/169559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theauthor2010/pseuds/theauthor2010
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn collapses on the McKinley football field on the same day that Kurt is kidnapped, bringing to the surface the true nature of a link between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Agony

**Author's Note:**

> Written January 2nd on. Edited.

It was a good game: McKinley was up and they were certainly going to win, he and Rachel were back together and she was smiling at him from the bleachers. Finn was just high on life, happy. He had been dealing with a lot in the past months, and nothing felt better than playing his game, confident and happy with himself.

He mumbled plays with Sam before Coach blew the whistle, and then, as he ran forward it hit him - pain like Finn had never felt before. It was agony, like a knife had been driven straight into his gut. He screamed, falling to his knees and clutching his stomach. His eyes watered and he shook, feeling like he was on the verge of throwing up. The pain was radiating through him, worse than any football injury he had ever received. It seemed to grow worse by the second, steadier and hotter. Coach blew her whistle again and the next thing he knew, he was surrounded. He thought for a moment that he was going to be another one of those high school athletes you sometimes read about, the ones who dropped dead on the field. He felt like he was dying.

"Mom!" he screamed.

The space in front of his eyes went white.

When he woke up, he was still seeing white, but his mother was holding his hand and he was undoubtedly in a hospital. "Mom?" Finn asked, his voice coming out small and shaken. "What happened?"

She looked straight into his eyes and she was crying. "You passed out on the field," she said softly. "Burt and I rushed down from the bleachers and I took you to the hospital."

Finn nodded slowly.

"What's wrong with me?" he asked. The memories came flooding back to him quickly and he shook his head. "I thought that I was gonna die Mom, it hurt so badly. It felt like someone was ripping through me, tearing me into pieces.” The pain was gone for the moment being, but not completely. It lingered in his body, like a distant memory, but it wasn’t all in his head. The sting remained, burning deeply underneath the surface. Something, some residual pain was lingering there.

"The doctors didn't find anything," she admitted, eyes teary. "They're stumped. One is saying you're dehydrated..."

Finn shook his head. "I drink a lot of water," he said. "Coach pushes that hard."

His mom very gently ran a hand over his forehead. He closed his eyes and tried to come up with an idea. What could have caused his unimaginable pain? Only one thing made sense and it was a scary thought.

"Mom, you don't think its Kurt is it?" he asked softly. "I mean you know about our...special thing. Where is he?"

She frowned. "I sent Burt out to get him," she said. "I haven't heard from him...I was so worried about you."

"Go call him," Finn said, a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He lay back against the bed, while his mom went to call Burt. He didn't feel right. Something was very wrong with him. "Oh god!" he yelled. Another fit of pain took over his body, all over him, a burning. He batted at his skin, trying to snuff out the invisible flames. He screamed. His screams brought both his mother and two nurses into his room. "It hurts..." he whimpered. He could heart rate monitors around him beeping frantically. He clawed at his skin.

Then it stopped and he shut his eyes tightly. Please, make it stop, was all that he could think.

"He's alright," Finn heard his mom tell the nurses. He was confused; body burning and he couldn't stop shaking. He was crying, shamefully, and could not stop. "Just a nervous condition, post-traumatic stress disorder. He's in an attack. Please, just let him rest a bit and I can take him home."

Finn closed his eyes. He listened to the hustle, the noise and haze. Why was his mother writing this off? Oh god, it hurt. When it lessened, the pain and the noise, he addressed his mother, panting. "Mom, did you get Burt?"

"Kurt's missing," she said and for the first time in a long time he heard tears in his mother's voice, as well as saw them in her eyes. She was fighting them back, trying her hardest to be strong. "His father's been to the police. There are some witnesses - Finn, it’s possible that Kurt was kidnapped."

"No," Finn said, shaking his head. The pain subsided again, long enough to let him think, but he didn't know when it would start again. He was still hurting, badly. Every fiber of his body, every nerve ending was on fire. He sat back on his elbows so that he could see his crying mother. "Oh god mom, someone's doing this to Kurt. That's why I'm feeling like this. Someone's torturing my brother. Oh shit, no. Why?"

"I don't know," she whispered. Her phone rang and she answered it. "Burt, yeah, he had another attack. He's in a ton of pain. Burt, I'm scared. It could be happening to Kurt and we can't exactly tell anyone our sons share a special bond. I don’t know. Get here. I don’t know what the hell to do! GET HERE DAMN IT!”

Finn closed his eyes, marveling that he had never heard such venom in his mother’s voice. It was a momentary thought, to get his mind off of things, but they were drawn right back to the situation, quickly.

"Ah!"

He screamed as a jolt struck him in the back. He cowered, scrunching up into a ball. He reached around to try and pull the knife out of his back but he was unscarred. He jolted against the bed.

"Burt, what do I do?!" he vaguely heard his mother shriek. "Finn's in agony here. I can’t see my son like this Burt Hummel! DO SOMETHING NOW!”

He hit the bed, pain exploding across his face. He clutched his eye, but his back still exploded in pain every time he moved. Hell, everything hurt. "Mom...momma...mom!"


	2. I can't make it without you.

Finn woke up and he was no longer in the hospital. He looked around, confused, before he realized that he was in the basement room he should have been sharing with Kurt. Kurt wasn’t there though; Kurt was missing, kidnapped. He glanced at the clock by his bedside. It said 8:45. If that was 8:45pm, then Finn had been asleep for almost twenty-four hours.

“Finn, you’re awake,” his mother said and Finn realized that she was sitting at his side.

“Mom, where’s Kurt?” he asked softly. “Did it stop? I don’t…”

She looked around the room and then back to Finn. She brushed her hand through his hair. “They still haven’t found Kurt,” she admitted softly, still stroking his hair. “Burt’s got everyone in the city on finding him. His friends are hysterical; they’ve been in and out all day. Rachel came to see you, sweetie. I told her you were asleep but she said that she sends her love and she’s going to sing something to you as soon as you get up.”

She smiled sweetly and Finn groaned, but he smiled too, in spite of himself.

“Mom, it doesn’t hurt right now…I … they’re doing these horrible things to Kurt right? What if they…kill him?”

Finn swallowed, the horrific thought sticking in his head. He knew that he and Kurt shared this special bond and he knew that Burt Hummel knew the reasons why, at least somewhat. When Finn and Kurt had first discovered it, he had explained it vaguely, saying that it had something to do with Kurt’s mother. Finn had accepted it then, because it freaked him out way too much to ask for further explanation. Now, he had to know.

He looked off and his mother stroked his hand. “I’m going to go get you something to drink, okay? Call me downstairs if it…happens again, please.”

Finn nodded and closed his eyes.

His mom must have left the door open, because could hear Burt and his mom fighting, moments later.

“What do we do?” his mother yelled loudly.

“I don’t know Carole! Right now, I have to focus on finding my son. Kurt’s been kidnapped and that boy down there is feeling his pain! Someone is torturing my son.”

“Burt, I’m…I’m sorry. I’m scared of what’s happening to Kurt. I just don’t know how to make this pain stop for Finn.”

“It won’t stop, not unless Kurt’s…no! He’s not dead okay? He’s not gonna die on me. Is the boy still feeling it?”

“It’s settled for now.”

“God…no.”

“I don’t understand a thing about this. You told me that it was about Kurt’s mother but why are they linked like this?”

“I…I can’t explain now. I have to go back to the police station Carole.”

“Please!”

Finn closed his eyes and wished that his mother would stop screaming. Burt was terrified. Kurt was somewhere and if he wasn’t dead, he was being tortured. Finn closed his eyes and tried really hard not to cry. He couldn’t help hope Kurt was dead in the sickest way. Oh god. If there was someone doing to Kurt what he had just felt, then he was being absolutely mutilated. No, he couldn’t think about it. He just had to pray for Kurt’s return to them.

He shut his eyes.

“Kurt’s mother wasn’t fully human.”

He opened them again to listen to that. It was something that Burt had told Finn, when he and Kurt had discovered the connection, but now it meant so much more. “I know it’s insane, and I know she dumbed it down for me, but Elizabeth told me that she was sort of like…part elf.” Burt laughed; a sad, horrified laugh and Finn didn’t blame him. It sounded crazy, but what was crazy was the fact that he was laying in bed, afraid of when the next wave of his brother’s pain hit him. “She told me that how when someone with blood like hers formed a soul bond with someone, they connected somewhere, pain, emotions, somewhere. Liz and I had the same thing Finn and Kurt do, okay? Now can I go?”

“Go,” she said softly. “Please. Just…go and please bring Kurt home in one piece.”

“Are you sure he hasn’t…felt anything?”

“Not so far.”

As if on cue, Finn jerked up out of the bed as though he were being electrocuted. “FUCK! No, no…” he mumbled. He wasn’t strong enough. He couldn’t take this. He couldn’t. He couldn’t live through Kurt’s pain. He couldn’t.

His mom was down with him again, in a second. He curled up into her side, instantly, like he was five years old again. The torture that he was being put through wasn’t like anything else he had ever felt in his life. Nothing he could imagine had ever hurt like this. “He has to find Kurt,” Finn whimpered, leaning up closer to his mother, trying to draw some comfort from her arms around him. He didn’t know what to do. He was in so much pain he thought that he was going to die, he was scared and somewhere out there Kurt was going through the real deal. He knew he was only experiencing phantoms of what the other boy was.

“Oh he will,” his mother assured, holding onto him tightly, but delicately, as though she were afraid she could break him. “If anyone can find Kurt and bring him home to us, it’s Burt Hummel. That man loves his son so much and would go to the ends of the earth to bring him back.”

“I know that,” Finn mumbled in reply. He couldn’t help voice the doubts he was experiencing firsthand. He was feeling the pain that Kurt was being put through. While his pain was just some supernatural echo of Kurt’s, Kurt was feeling the real thing. There was no way that he could survive much more of the torture he was being put through – and live. It was a very grim, sobering fact. “Mom, if he dies I don’t know what I’ll do,” he whispered. “I’d go through this forever if it could keep him alive.”

She was quiet for awhile. “Do you think he’s going to…” she mumbled the words, but could not finish the thought.

“He wants to,” Finn mumbled. He hated to be melodramatic but if another burst of pain hit him, he was going to want the same thing. He leaned back and felt his mother’s hand in his hair. “When Burt told you about Kurt’s mom and that link…he had it with his wife. Why do I have it with Kurt? I mean, I love Kurt but we’re not exactly married.”

“I don’t get it in the slightest,” his mother said, but she engaged his conversation, probably to distract him. “It seems to me like it must come to people very close, who need each other. She was his wife, but Kurt’s your brother and you need each other.”

It made sense, in some weird way.

He shut his eyes, feeling the pain sharply again. It was miserable and he couldn’t help that he just started crying, instantly. “I just wish I could use this – useless power somehow. Talk to Kurt, or something. Find out where he is, who has him, or at least god, at least comfort him.”

She hugged him closer, as if she too could give the other boy some comfort. He hugged his mother back and shut his eyes.

 _Kurt dude, wherever you are, just please, please stay strong okay? Your dad can’t make it without you. I can’t make it without you._


	3. Flashing red and blue lights.

Finn closed his eyes, knowing that he was hallucinating. It had started hurting so badly all of a sudden, that he screamed and kicked and pulled away from his mother. It had made her cry. He had seen her cry. That was when the hallucinations started kicking in and he could see things through Kurt’s eyes for a moment. In fact, he could more than see things through Kurt’s eyes. He was living through Kurt for just a moment, in these vivid dreams.

Kurt was lying flat on his back in what felt like some kind of woods. There was blood on his face and he was cold, so cold. The numerous gaping wounds covering his body didn't even hurt anymore, he was so cold. Oh fuck. They had left him here to die and they were going to get their way. He thought back to what they did to him and he shuddered. Sick bastards, they got off on everything they did to him, every torture they inflicted to his vulnerable form. He tried to move and screamed. He couldn't. Apparently the pain wasn't so far gone.

Warmth flooded over him, as he moved. He was bleeding, heavily. His head became light, dizzy.

 _Oh god, I don't want to die like this. What is my dad going to do without me? He needs me to take care of him. What about Finn, Mercedes, Blaine..._

He forced his eyes open and he felt something else, aside from his pain; warmth of a different kind. There was a flood of emotion that hit him and then he remembered that he and Finn were connected.

The first time that he and Finn had shared their mental connection, the connection of their pain, Kurt had staggered to the couch at home while Finn had been hit in the head during football. Oh god, Finn was feeling everything that he had gone through. No. Kurt was panicking and thinking of Finn.

 _Finn! Finn! I'm in a forest. The woods outside of town I think. Please._

He shut his eyes again and thought of his mother. He knew that she had elf blood and it had actually made him happy, to be connected to Finn, despite the fact that he knew he was in for a lot of pain. It was another thing that made him more like his mother, like the woman who had been lost.

Now he was scared. Finn could feel his pain. Finn could feel all of this agony.

Finn came back to himself moments later. He was shaking; he could see his body shaking, but there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was paralyzed, he couldn’t move. “Mom, I think I know where Kurt is,” he whispered out loud. It sounded crazy, absolutely, positively crazy, but it was real. In a world where one could feel their quarter-elf stepbrother’s pain and emotions in vivid hallucinations, nothing was crazy. “Mom! I know where Kurt is. Those woods outside of town where you used to take me sometimes to fake-camp, remember?”

“I remember,” she said softly. “I remember Finn but how can he be there?”

“I closed my eyes and I felt him, I was him…” It sounded like a new form of insanity, but Finn knew that it was true. He tried to move, but oh, he couldn’t. He was cold. He was so cold. He pulled his blanket closer. “He doesn’t have much time mom, he’s dying. Tell Burt. Please. He’ll get Kurt. If anyone can get Kurt in time, it’s him.”

Finn got up, slowly, still feeling that crippling cold. “Please. Get Burt.”

-

It was quiet.

Well, quiet wasn't the best word, but Finn couldn't think of another word to better describe how he was feeling. All of the pain that had been wracking his body for the past three days was gone, dulled and quiet. He was terrified. "Mom, I can't feel him anymore," he said, slowly sitting up in bed. He could sit up, he found, if he was very careful. He took the glass of water she had left at his bedside and took a long, deep drink. He was dizzy and so thirsty. He had not kept down any food or much drink since he passed out.

He almost started crying again. "I can't feel anything!” Normally brutal pain leaving would be a good thing, but the dulling wasn't good, especially after his vivid fantasy in which Kurt was dying in the forest. "He can't be dead, can he...?"

His mother stilled. "I don't know Finn," she said, taking up her cell phone again. She had been trying to get Burt on the phone for the last couple of hours, but had no luck in that at all.

"Burt...hey...what's going on..."

She stopped.”You haven't found him...the police...okay baby..."

She looked over at Finn and shook her head sadly. "It's really dulled sweetheart," she said softly. “I don’t know. He says he can’t feel much of anything. Does that mean…god, I hope not Burt.”

Finn tried to speak but pretty much wailed.

Finn groaned when his mother hung up the phone.

"He's going to die out there, if he's not already dead," Finn mumbled. He knew that it sounded hopeless but what else could he think when he felt the sickening cold that he could only imagine was of his brother's death. "Burt knows it, doesn't he? He was connected to his wife like this and she died. Mom, we can't live through losing Kurt. Why would anyone do this to him?"

"Finn Hudson," she said softly, putting the phone down on the dresser beside him. "I don't want to hear anything like that coming from you. Kurt is not going to die and he is not dead. We have got to have faith."

Finn groaned and leaned back. "Faith? How does faith have anything to do with it when I can't feel Kurt anymore?"

She took his hand. "Hey, I know it's tough to have faith but I have faith in my family. I have faith in my boys and in my husband."

He nodded, but he felt an emptiness slowly sinking into him.

"Kurt, they're going to find you," he mumbled quietly. He was just hoping that it was not his brother's body they found.

“Can you sleep a little?” she asked gentle.

He grumbled and closed his eyes. “Please Kurt,” he mumbled low, still trying his hardest to see him. He tried to open his eyes again but he shifted, a little bit of dizziness making it hard. He was exhausted.

He looked up at a bright blue sky and saw flashing red and blue lights.


	4. Life saved.

It was a lot of chaos for the next couple of hours. Doctors came in and out, checked Kurt’s vitals, removed things, put more things back in. Finn felt like his head was spinning a little but at least Kurt was so drugged up that neither of them felt any pain. Kurt kept looking at Finn, as he went in and out of consciousness. The confusion in his face was a little bit terrifying, though Finn had enough terror for the rest of his life.

He just stuck around; calm for the first time in days, despite the terror Kurt’s expressions caused at random intervals. It was a strange miracle that Kurt had been saved, all he had been put through. It was all going to work out and they were going to be closer than ever. There wasn’t much more that he could ask for.

Kurt closed his eyes and Finn looked over at his mom. She and Burt were obviously a lot calmer, knowing that neither of their children were going to hurt anymore. Burt was calm, but only once the doctor convinced him that yes, Kurt was going to survive and there was nothing he had to worry about.

Finn stayed close to Kurt through it all, only moving for the poking and prodding.

Kurt was confused, naturally. As soon as he was able to talk, he opened his mouth and spoke to Finn, making direct eye contact, avoiding anyone else. “Y-you felt it,” he said softly, his voice dry and cracked. “I could feel you with me. Oh God, you felt it all.”

"I felt it all," Finn repeated, nodding. He brushed his fingers over the back of Kurt's hand, more for his own comfort than anything. He could not believe that everything he had felt had been real, happening to Kurt as he lay there feeling it. “Every horrible, horrible thing.” It was horrible; both the things that had been done to Kurt and the way he had felt them. It was absolutely inhuman, what had happened to his little brother.

Kurt swallowed and nodded. "I knew you did," he said in that same strained voice. "I could feel you, for just a minute. I thought I was gonna die.”

"I can't believe they did that to you," Finn said, crying shamelessly as he leaned down closer to his brother, his best friend. "I just don't get why anyone would do something so horrible, so inhuman."

Kurt shook his head. “I don’t th-think they had a motive. I think they just were in it for the torture.” He closed his eyes and to Finn’s horror, he was crying. Finn held his hand even tighter, shutting his eyes. Kurt reached out, hesitantly, and Finn pulled him into a hug. He knew that Kurt hated being touched, or being held; but he obviously needed this now.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled softly. “From right here, it’s going to be okay.”

-

It was okay from there on, just like Finn promised Kurt it would be.

The men who attacked Kurt were caught and quickly linked to a local cult. It turned out that though there was a lot of history behind what they did to Kurt, it seemed that they really were in it for the torture, the agony of their victim. They had caught Kurt outside his school and had taken him as the perfect victim for their games.

Kurt was doing alright. His injuries were healing pretty fast, something that Burt told Finn quietly was another benefit of Kurt not being entirely human. He had always healed fast, from childhood injuries all the way to this. He was upset, visibly shaken and traumatized by what had happened to him, but he kept a positive attitude about it all. “At least I didn’t die, right?” he told Finn, which had quickly led to Finn’s breaking down in tears and Kurt mumbling, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

It took three weeks for Kurt and Finn to finally get a moment to talk about Kurt’s mom. Kurt was still in the hospital, so they didn’t have much privacy; from the floods of visitors to Burt’s over protectiveness, there was no peace for the two brothers. Of course, Kurt had mentioned her before, but it meant so much more now to Finn to see her, to try and know her, even though she was gone.

“Here,” Kurt said, handing Finn a picture of his mother that his father had brought to the hospital for him. It was in a small wooden frame.

Elizabeth Hummel was a very beautiful woman, with features that reminded him so much of Kurt. She was thin, angelic looking and had the same slight point to her ears that Kurt did. In the photo, she was smiling brightly, holding a little baby to her chest. “That you?” he asked, with a small smile. It was a beautiful picture. Burt must have kept it in a private place, because Finn had never seen it before.

“No, my mom held random children all the time,” Kurt teased, closing his eyes. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She looks so much like you.”

Kurt nodded a little bit. “I can agree to that without being vain, right?”

“Sure,” Finn said, shrugging. “When did you find out that she was…you know, special?”

“Pretty young,” Kurt said honestly. “I mean, they both told me that it was a secret, because people don’t know about stuff like that, but I remember being like five and mom telling me all of these historical legends about how elves came to be and stuff.”

“That’s crazy,” Finn mumbled.

“Says the boy who felt his stepbrother’s pain vividly and who everyone now thinks is crazy.”

Damn it, he was right. It was going to take a very interesting story to explain his randomly collapsing on the football field at the same time that Kurt was kidnapped and left to die. He groaned a little bit. “I think Rachel’s already accepted that I’m experiencing some kind of psychotic delusion at least,” he said, feeling somewhat defeated.

“Why don’t you just tell everyone that’s what happens when brothers are connected,” Kurt said, satisfied with that idea.

Finn thought about it for a minute and he was satisfied with the idea too.

Kurt yawned a little and leaned back against the bed. The medications that he was on left him tired, a lot. “I was thinking about it and the first time I felt one of your stupid football injuries was around the time we started getting close. I think that you initiated this Finn, by learning and being an awesome brother.”

“You mean that?”

“Yeah definitely,” Kurt said seriously. “Thank you. You kind of saved my life.”

“It was just a natural link that did it,” Finn mumbled watching as Kurt fell asleep.


	5. Link

Kurt had always been pretty small to Finn. Even after his insane growth spurt, Kurt was always very delicate and the fact that he was Finn’s brother made than even harder to ignore. Right now, however, Kurt looked more delicate than ever; fragile, like he was going to break at any second. Finn was afraid to even touch him. There was a breathing tube in his throat, his eyes were closed and his skin looked transparent.

His entire body below the neck was covered with a sheet, but Finn could still see many signs of his torment. His face was battered and bruised, his nose broken and a deep wound stitched up on his chin. More stitches peeked out from beneath the blanket, running up his neck.

Finn didn’t need to see the hidden wounds to know they were there. The moment he had passed out on the football field was the long laceration up his stomach, all the way to the center of his chest, where the dull blade had dug deep with intention of tormenting him.

He had third degree burns covering many random spots of his body, caused by a lighter and a torch being held to his pale skin. Kurt burned so easily, why wouldn’t the fuckers who tortured him be fascinated by it?

He had bruises, covering almost every inch of his flesh. They beat him when they got bored of their more creative endeavors, with something thick that had broken bones as well. He had broken ribs, Finn had felt them. He had been stabbed with the same dull knife they had cut him with, right in the back, between his shoulder blades.

It didn’t even begin to account for all that was wrong with his little brother, but Finn knew everything. Trying to breathe, Finn decided that he had to touch Kurt. He had felt the most intimate connection possible with the other boy and now he was scared to physically touch him. He leaned over and gently touched Kurt’s hand. His middle finger was wrapped in a bandage, so he touched him very delicately.

He looked out the room to see that his mother and Burt were watching. Since Kurt was in such a delicate state, the hospital only let one of them enter at a time. Burt had pressed Finn to go in and be with Kurt, knowing that Finn had saved his son’s life. Finn ran his hand over the back of Kurt’s, just so glad that the heart monitor at his side was beating steadily and he was alive.

“Dude, that was the scariest thing ever,” he mumbled low. Kurt was going to be down for a long time, but at least he was here. Finn was thanking everything in the world that Kurt was with him. “You scared me so much. I could feel everything, every little bit of this, but I knew it was three times as bad for you. I can see that right now.”

He sighed a little bit. “I don’t really get your mom’s abilities and your abilities and why they’re around,” he said. “But your father said that nothing happens without a reason and I genuinely believe that now.”

He sighed a little bit. He felt like he was talking to himself, but he and Kurt were so linked that he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Kurt opened his eyes, slowly. He blinked twice and then looked into Finn’s eyes. He didn’t speak, unable to, but his yes drew Finn straight to them. Kurt was a powerful little creature. He was amazing.

“Hey Kurt,” he whispered. The doctor had said that Kurt would come to sooner or later, but he had been kept under for awhile now. Finn breathed in deeply, tears springing to the corners of his eyes. It was something he took for granted for a long time, actually sitting down and looking his stepbrother in the eye. “Don’t try to move or talk, or anything, okay?”

He wasn’t too surprised when Burt burst into the room behind him, seeing through the window that his son had woken up. Finn turned his head for a second, but just held Kurt’s hand tighter. Kurt held his back.


	6. End

It was a lot of chaos for the next couple of hours. Doctors came in and out, checked Kurt’s vitals, removed things, put more things back in. Finn felt like his head was spinning a little but at least Kurt was so drugged up that neither of them felt any pain. Kurt kept looking at Finn, as he went in and out of consciousness. The confusion in his face was a little bit terrifying, though Finn had enough terror for the rest of his life.

He just stuck around; calm for the first time in days, despite the terror Kurt’s expressions caused at random intervals. It was a strange miracle that Kurt had been saved, all he had been put through. It was all going to work out and they were going to be closer than ever. There wasn’t much more that he could ask for.

Kurt closed his eyes and Finn looked over at his mom. She and Burt were obviously a lot calmer, knowing that neither of their children were going to hurt anymore. Burt was calm, but only once the doctor convinced him that yes, Kurt was going to survive and there was nothing he had to worry about.

Finn stayed close to Kurt through it all, only moving for the poking and prodding.

Kurt was confused, naturally. As soon as he was able to talk, he opened his mouth and spoke to Finn, making direct eye contact, avoiding anyone else. “Y-you felt it,” he said softly, his voice dry and cracked. “I could feel you with me. Oh God, you felt it all.”

"I felt it all," Finn repeated, nodding. He brushed his fingers over the back of Kurt's hand, more for his own comfort than anything. He could not believe that everything he had felt had been real, happening to Kurt as he lay there feeling it. “Every horrible, horrible thing.” It was horrible; both the things that had been done to Kurt and the way he had felt them. It was absolutely inhuman, what had happened to his little brother.

Kurt swallowed and nodded. "I knew you did," he said in that same strained voice. "I could feel you, for just a minute. I thought I was gonna die.”

"I can't believe they did that to you," Finn said, crying shamelessly as he leaned down closer to his brother, his best friend. "I just don't get why anyone would do something so horrible, so inhuman."

Kurt shook his head. “I don’t th-think they had a motive. I think they just were in it for the torture.” He closed his eyes and to Finn’s horror, he was crying. Finn held his hand even tighter, shutting his eyes. Kurt reached out, hesitantly, and Finn pulled him into a hug. He knew that Kurt hated being touched, or being held; but he obviously needed this now.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled softly. “From right here, it’s going to be okay.”

-

It was okay from there on, just like Finn promised Kurt it would be.

The men who attacked Kurt were caught and quickly linked to a local cult. It turned out that though there was a lot of history behind what they did to Kurt, it seemed that they really were in it for the torture, the agony of their victim. They had caught Kurt outside his school and had taken him as the perfect victim for their games.

Kurt was doing alright. His injuries were healing pretty fast, something that Burt told Finn quietly was another benefit of Kurt not being entirely human. He had always healed fast, from childhood injuries all the way to this. He was upset, visibly shaken and traumatized by what had happened to him, but he kept a positive attitude about it all. “At least I didn’t die, right?” he told Finn, which had quickly led to Finn’s breaking down in tears and Kurt mumbling, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

It took three weeks for Kurt and Finn to finally get a moment to talk about Kurt’s mom. Kurt was still in the hospital, so they didn’t have much privacy; from the floods of visitors to Burt’s over protectiveness, there was no peace for the two brothers. Of course, Kurt had mentioned her before, but it meant so much more now to Finn to see her, to try and know her, even though she was gone.

“Here,” Kurt said, handing Finn a picture of his mother that his father had brought to the hospital for him. It was in a small wooden frame.

Elizabeth Hummel was a very beautiful woman, with features that reminded him so much of Kurt. She was thin, angelic looking and had the same slight point to her ears that Kurt did. In the photo, she was smiling brightly, holding a little baby to her chest. “That you?” he asked, with a small smile. It was a beautiful picture. Burt must have kept it in a private place, because Finn had never seen it before.

“No, my mom held random children all the time,” Kurt teased, closing his eyes. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She looks so much like you.”

Kurt nodded a little bit. “I can agree to that without being vain, right?”

“Sure,” Finn said, shrugging. “When did you find out that she was…you know, special?”

“Pretty young,” Kurt said honestly. “I mean, they both told me that it was a secret, because people don’t know about stuff like that, but I remember being like five and mom telling me all of these historical legends about how elves came to be and stuff.”

“That’s crazy,” Finn mumbled.

“Says the boy who felt his stepbrother’s pain vividly and who everyone now thinks is crazy.”

Damn it, he was right. It was going to take a very interesting story to explain his randomly collapsing on the football field at the same time that Kurt was kidnapped and left to die. He groaned a little bit. “I think Rachel’s already accepted that I’m experiencing some kind of psychotic delusion at least,” he said, feeling somewhat defeated.

“Why don’t you just tell everyone that’s what happens when brothers are connected,” Kurt said, satisfied with that idea.

Finn thought about it for a minute and he was satisfied with the idea too.

Kurt yawned a little and leaned back against the bed. The medications that he was on left him tired, a lot. “I was thinking about it and the first time I felt one of your stupid football injuries was around the time we started getting close. I think that you initiated this Finn, by learning and being an awesome brother.”

“You mean that?”

“Yeah definitely,” Kurt said seriously. “Thank you. You kind of saved my life.”

“It was just a natural link that did it,” Finn mumbled watching as Kurt fell asleep.


End file.
